NEW DELHI, Oct 3: A bomb scare on board an Iranian passenger flight while it was in Indian airspace on Monday morning put the Indian authorities on high alert prompting the Indian Air Force to scramble fighter jets.
Official sources said the Mahan Air plane which took off from Teheran for Guangzhou in China, was offered two options to land in India which the Iranian plane refused and continued its onward journey to China, the Air Force said.
The fighter jets followed the aircraft at a safe distance while the aircraft was also “under close radar surveillance by the Air Force throughout the Indian airspace” till it entered the Chinese air space. the IAF said in a statement.
A call regarding the bomb threat on the flight was received at 9:20 am, said police. The Delhi airport was subsequently put on alert. “The aircraft was offered the option to land at Jaipur and then, at Chandigarh. However, the pilot declared his unwillingness to divert to either of the two airports,” said the Indian Air Force. “After a while, intimation was received from Tehran to disregard the bomb scare, following which, the aircraft continued on its journey towards its final destination.”
According to sources, the aircraft initially started its descent from its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet to 21,000 feet while in a holding position, around 200 km west of Delhi. It then exited the holding position and climbed back up to 35,000 feet before flying westward. The IAF said, “All actions were taken by IAF as per the laid down procedure, jointly with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the statement said.
(Manas Dasgupta)